A typical Thanksgiving meal is full of tradition and familiar foods, from the turkey on the table to the pumpkin pie for dessert. If you're tired of the same holiday foods or are just looking to offer something special, make these adorable turkey cupcakes. Bake and cool 24 cupcakes (or just buy them). Once you've covered them with a simple chocolate frosting, you can decorate them several ways. Try piping the shape of turkeys onto the cupcakes or use candy to fashion the turkeys. For extra treats, use cookies to create the turkeys on your tasty cupcakes. Everyone will welcome these cute cupcakes at the dessert table!

Ingredients

For Turkey Cupcakes Using Piped Frosting

24 baked and cooled cupcakes (any flavor)

1 cup (227 g) of butter, softened

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of milk

2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar

1 22-ounce (624 g) package of candy corn

1 tube (4.25 ounces or 120 g) of white decorating icing

1 tube (4.25 ounces or 120 g) of brown decorating icing

Chocolate candy sprinkles, optional

For Turkey Cupcakes Using Candy

24 baked and cooled cupcakes (any flavor)

1 cup (227 g) of butter, softened

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of milk

2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar

1 22-ounce (624 g) package of candy corn

24 Hershey's Kiss candies, unwrapped

1 cup (175 g) of white chocolate chips

Orange gel food dye

1 10.8-ounce (306 g) bag of mini chocolate M&Ms

1 17.25-ounce (489 g) bag of Reese's Pieces

For Turkey Cupcakes Using Cookies

24 baked and cooled cupcakes (any flavor)

1 cup (227 g) of butter, softened

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of milk

2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar

Chocolate candy sprinkles

24 Nutter Butter cookies

24 Oreo cookies

1 50-count package (50 g) of candy eyes

1 small package of red fruit leather

Steps

Method1

Decorating Turkey Cupcakes Using Piped Frosting

1

Make the frosting. Place 1 cup (227 g) of softened butter into a large mixing bowl and beat it with an electric mixer until it's light and fluffy. This should take about a minute. Beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 1 cup (125 g) of the powdered sugar on low speed. Keep beating the frosting on low and add more powdered sugar until the frosting is thick enough to spread on your cupcakes.[1]

You may need a total of 2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar.

2

Frost a base layer on the cupcakes. Arrange 24 baked and completely cooled cupcakes on your work surface. Use an offset spatula or a knife to spread an even layer of frosting over each cupcake. This will make a base for you to pipe more frosting for the turkey.[2]

You can use any flavor of cupcake. Try vanilla, chocolate, yellow, red velvet, or spice.

3

Fill a pastry bag with icing and pipe the turkey. Scoop the chocolate frosting into a pastry bag with a simple round tip insert. Take one cupcake and squeeze a 1-inch mound of frosting on one side of the cupcake. This will be the turkey's head. Squeeze a slightly smaller mound of frosting on the opposite side of the cupcake to make the tail mound. Repeat this for every cupcake.[3]

If you don't have a pastry bag, you can fill a plastic food storage bag and snip off a corner of the bag.

4

Create the eyes. Use 1 tube (4.25 ounces or 120 g) of white decorating icing and 1 tube (4.25 ounces or 120 g) of brown decorating icing to make the eyes. Squeeze two very small white dots on the frosting mound that will be the turkey's head. Take the brown icing and carefully make to smaller dots on each white dot.[4]

You could also use black decorating icing instead of brown.

5

Insert the candy corn. Insert about 6 to 8 pieces of candy corn (from a 22-ounce (624 g) package) into the frosting mound that will be the turkey's tail. The yellow tips of the candy corn should be visibly sticking out of the frosting so they look like feathers. Insert one piece of candy corn so that it's coming out of the turkey's head. Repeat this for all the cupcakes.[5]

To give the appearance of smaller feathers, sprinkle chocolate candy sprinkles behind the head near the candy corn feathers.

Method2

Decorating Turkey Cupcakes Using Candy

1

Make the frosting. Place 1 cup (227 g) of softened butter into a large mixing bowl and beat it with an electric mixer until it's light and fluffy. This should take about a minute. Beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 1 cup (125 g) of the powdered sugar on low speed. Keep beating the frosting on low and add more powdered sugar until the frosting is thick enough to spread on your cupcakes.[6]

You may need a total of 2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar.

2

Melt the chocolate chips. Unwrap 24 Hershey's Kisses and set them aside. Place 1 cup (175 g) of white chocolate chips in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl. You can heat the chips on low and stir constantly until they melt. Or you can microwave the chocolate chips to melt the chocolate. Microwave the chips for 30 seconds at a time and stir frequently until they're melted.[7]

You'll be dividing the melted white chocolate for decorating the turkey faces.

3

Make the turkey beaks. Remove 1/4 cup of the melted white chocolate and place it in a small bowl. Stir in enough orange gel food dye to get a tan colored chocolate. Take a Hershey's Kiss and dip the pointy end into the tan-colored chocolate. This will make the turkey beak. Repeat this for all of the Hershey's Kisses. Let the turkey beaks cool and harden.[8]

Since orange gel food dyes vary in intensity, you may need to gradually add more gel until you get the color you like. Avoid using liquid food coloring because it will make the chocolate separate.

4

Create the turkey faces. Open a 10.8 ounce (306 g) package of mini-chocolate M&Ms and divide the M&Ms by color. Take a red mini-M&M and carefully dip one side of it in the tan-colored chocolate. Press it to the base of the turkey beak to make the wattle (red part) of the turkey. Dip blue or brown mini-M&Ms into the remaining melted white chocolate and place them above the beak so that the white chocolate spreads behind the mini-M&Ms. This will make the eyes.[9]

If you want the whites of the eyes to be more noticeable, you can put the melted white chocolate into a pastry bag with a small tip. Pipe little dots of white chocolate and set the mini-M&Ms on them. Let them cool before sticking them to the Hershey's Kiss with more melted chocolate or frosting.[10]

5

Frost a base layer on the cupcakes. Arrange 24 baked and completely cooled cupcakes on your work surface. Use an offset spatula or a knife to spread an even layer of frosting over each cupcake. This will make a base for you to pipe more frosting for the turkey.[11]

You can use any flavor of cupcake. Try vanilla, chocolate, yellow, red velvet, or spice.

6

Make the feathers and place the faces on the cupcakes. Open one 17.25-ounce (489 g) bag of Reese's Pieces and divide them by color. Insert a row of brown candies along the edge of the frosting so that half of the cupcake has candy feathers. Make a row of yellow candy feathers by inserting a line of them below the brown ones. Make a smaller final row of orange feathers so that you're almost at the middle of the cupcake. Set one decorated Hershey's Kiss face in the middle.[12]

You could switch the candy colors for a variety or use M&Ms instead for different colors.

Method3

Decorating Turkey Cupcakes Using Cookies

1

Make the frosting. Place 1 cup (227 g) of softened butter into a large mixing bowl and beat it with an electric mixer until it's light and fluffy. This should take about a minute. Beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup (35 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 1 cup (125 g) of the powdered sugar on low speed. Keep beating the frosting on low and add more powdered sugar until the frosting is thick enough to spread on your cupcakes.[13]

You may need a total of 2 to 3 1/2 cups (250 to 437 g) of powdered sugar.

2

Frost a base layer on the cupcakes. Arrange 24 baked and completely cooled cupcakes on your work surface. Use an offset spatula or a knife to spread an even layer of frosting over each cupcake. This will make a base for you to pipe more frosting for the turkey.[14]

You can use any flavor of cupcake. Try vanilla, chocolate, yellow, red velvet, or spice.

3

Decorate the turkey faces. Break off the bottom 1/3 of a Nutter Butter cookie and discard or eat the excess piece. Do this for 24 cookies so they'll be easier to insert into the cupcakes. Dab a little bit of frosting near the rounded part of the cookie so the decorations will stick to the turkey face. Place 2 candy eyes (from a 50-count package) on the frosting and stick a piece of candy corn (from a 22-ounce package) below it for the beak. You can also tear a small strip of red fruit leather from one package to stick next to the beak.[15]

To make beaks that are entirely orange, you could cut the candy corn pieces to remove the white and yellow ends.

4

Decorate the tail fan. Open 24 Oreo cookies and discard or eat the pieces that don't have the frosting. Lay out the 24 pieces of Oreos that do have frosting on your work surface. Press 5 pieces of candy corn around into the frosting so that it creates a fan of tail feathers. Repeat this for each Oreo cookie.[16]

The narrow white part of the candy corn should be pointing towards the center of the cookie.

5

Insert the turkey cookies and apply chocolate sprinkles. Take one of your decorated Nutter Butter cookies and insert it on the cupcake half nearest you. Take one decorated Oreo cookie and insert it behind the Nutter Butter cookie. Sprinkle chocolate candy sprinkles between the two cookies to give the appearance of small feathers.[17]

You'll only need to insert the cookies about 1/2-inch deep. If you're worried they won't stand up, you could push them deeper or spread more frosting to hold them in place.